Piney Woods now labeled Texas Forest Country

Hill Country, meet your namesake, Forest Country

TERRI LANGFORD, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle |
October 12, 2006

LUFKIN - Deep East Texas officials tore a page out of the Central Texas tourism playbook on Wednesday, retiring the homey-sounding Piney Woods label for a more modern brand designed to woo aging baby boomers' hearts — and wallets.

Welcome to the Texas Forest Country.

"We think of the (Texas) Hill Country, it comes with this aura," explained Jane Ainsworth, whose Ainsworth/Alvis marketing company developed the moniker as part of a strategy to sell East Texas, particularly to the older-than-65 set looking for an alternative to golf course and beach communities as a retirement destination.

"It's a positive identifier," said Jim Wehmeier, director of economic development for the city of Lufkin.

Not that there's anything wrong with Piney Woods, officials said. In fact, the group responsible for kick-starting the image makeover, the Pineywoods Economic Partnership, doesn't plan to change its name. Neither do hundreds of businesses in the area whose names contain Pineywoods or Piney Woods.

The area has suffered from an identity crisis outside the region, however, and officials fretted that "Piney Woods" sounds like many folksy Texas town names, such as Dime Box or Rising Star.

Tom Gilmore, with the Austin marketing agency GSD&M, said such name changes can pay off better at a distance. GSD&M created the famous "Don't Mess With Texas" anti-litter slogan.

"When you say 'Forest Country,' you're positioning it like the Hill Country, which has a positive image," Gelb said. "It makes sense to me."

Beginning next Wednesday, when the first Texas Forest Country billboard goes up on U.S. Highway 59 north of Kingwood, the phrase will be used to describe 12 East Texas counties: Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity and Tyler.

The campaign, which will appear in magazines, in brochures distributed at Texas travel centers and online at www.texasforestcountry.com, adopts a nostalgic tone.

One brochure, featuring a senior couple swinging in a hammock, reads: "Urban Sprawl is what retirees do to relax."

The Pineywoods Economic Partnership, a band of business and city leaders led by Executive Director Trent Ashby, has been working since at least 2001 on how to build the population, and eventually local coffers. Once the group realized that a retired couple relocating to the area brought about as much economic benefit as nearly four manufacturing jobs, they began brainstorming on how to better sell their medical centers as well as their hunting and fishing.

The group plans to spend $100,000 a year for the next three years on the campaign, Ashby said. It hopes to put more billboards along highways throughout the state and won't solely focus on retirees.

" 'Texas Forest Country,' it can be used for everything," Ashby said.

Officials said the new effort, including the logo, Web text and public surveys, cost $22,000.